Sunshine Coast audiences will discover unknown composers and forgotten music when Italian pianist Ida Pelliccioli performs her only Australian concerts at Lucas Parklands in Montville next month.
Ms Pelliccioli, a professor at the Paris Conservatoire, will perform for classical music lovers at the intimate bushland venue on Saturday 20 July, and Sunday 21 July.
“My aim and also my responsibility as a performer – especially as a pianist as we have such a large repertoire – is to introduce something new to my audience, to make them discover a forgotten piece or an unknown composer, so that when they go home they wish to continue to listen to this music after the concert,” Ms Pelliccioli said.
Negotiations for Ms Pelliccioli to perform at the private Lucas Parklands Montville auditorium have been ongoing with owners Ian and Lee Lucas for some years – and finally, with both their schedules aligning, it is happening.
“I am very much looking forward to what will be my first visit and my debut in Australia,” she said.
“I have been in touch with Ian Lucas for almost four years now and I am very happy that we found a suitable time for me to come this year.”
As a child, Ms Pelliccioli was introduced to a range of activities, including ballet, violin, and swimming, where she also achieved considerable success. It was when they visited a family friend who owned a piano, that she began to take lessons. Eventually, she realised the piano was closest to her heart, her other pursuits faded and, at age 12, she decided to pursue the piano as a career.
She went on to study piano at the Nice Conservatoire de Région and at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. She also has a double master diploma from the Sorbonne University – in Italian Literature and in Ancient Greek History.
Ms Pelliccioli will join a special list of world class classical musicians who have performed at Lucas Parklands, a well-regarded and intimate venue nestled amongst 27-acres of hinterland rainforest just a stone’s throw from Lake Baroon, Montville.
“Ida is a very special guest, she is incredibly talented, with a very unique approach to her music,” Mr Lucas said.
“It’s been a long journey; we’ve been discussing such a visit for several years and it’s such an honour for me and Lee that things schedules have been worked out and we can now welcome Ida to our home concert room for the delight of local music lovers.”
For many years, Mr Lucas dreamed of creating such a venue and natural living environment, a place where the world’s best pianists, violinists, singers, jazz musicians, and more, could come to relax, feel at home, but also revel in the beautiful acoustics and treat guests to their most inspired works.
The venue also continues to schedule world class artists, while larger venues that traditionally hosted festivals and larger performance events are regularly closing due to the rising costs of regulation and insurance, for example, in the current cost-of-living crisis in which many people can no longer afford to attend arts events.
“Lucas Parklands has continued to host affordable classical music performances, in line with our aim to ‘keep the music alive’, at a time when rising costs are crippling many arts venues,” Mr Lucas said.
“This is an emerging and developing crisis that I believe needs to be addressed to prevent the slow death of the arts in Australia.”
The Lucas Parklands auditorium caters to just 150, meaning guests are treated to unrivalled musical experiences, being seated just metres from world-class performers – in the past including piano maestro Piers Lane AO and Konstantin Shamray.
“Pianist Pascal Rogé, who played here 10 or 12 years ago, said he felt, for its size, it was one of the two best performance venues in the world,” Mr Lucas said of the Montville venue.
“Other people have said they have played in much bigger places but they haven’t played in more beautiful places.
“It’s wonderful to see how quickly people become comfortable at Lucas Parklands. They come here not really knowing what to expect, but very quickly they totally relax and you can see them enjoy the experience as well as the concert opportunity.”
Ms Pelliccioli will perform works from “forgotten composer” Manuel Blasco de Nebra (1750-1784), of Spain.
Her concerts will also include D. Scarlatti’s Sonata in D major K.492, Sonata in B minor K. 197 and Sonata in F minor K. 386, Wolfgang Mozart’s Fantasia and Fugue in C Major K. 394 and Fantasia in C minor K. 396, and Franz Schubert’s Drei Klavierstücke D946.
“I am looking forward to performing at this very special venue. I have heard a lot of great things about the atmosphere and the acoustics of the hall,” Ms Pelliccioli said.
“I personally feel that the energy of a place and its audience plays a major role about how the musician performs. A place can inspire you and, especially for a pianist, there is always a lot of expectation about the instrument we are going to play and discover just a few days – sometimes a few hours – before the performance.
“I am always very much looking forward to meeting new audiences and I hope everyone will enjoy my concerts at Lucas Parklands.”
